WASHINGTON (January 14, 2014) – Congress has moved forward on a catch-all spending bill that restores some needed funding for health and environment safeguards the American people depend on, while also advancing misguided provisions on climate and energy that deserve to be stricken in subsequent budgets.

Following is a statement by Scott Slesinger, legislative director at the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“Congress is taking the right steps toward restoring health and environmental safeguards for the American people, and blocking most House Republican efforts to starve or restrict environmental protections. But the bill still includes wrongheaded curbs on climate action, clean energy and other measures. Those should be removed in future bills.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.